Late-stage biopharmaceutical company Sellas Life Sciences Group plans to begin phase III trials for its lead immuno-oncology candidate, galinpepimut-S. The study of the treatment in mesothelioma patients is expected to begin in the second half of 2017. Galinpepimut-S in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) will begin in the first half. This is exciting news, as the treatment has already shown an overall survival (OS) of 88% in 18 patients at 18 months, with a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 23.6 months. On maintenance therapy, these high-risk patients would normally be expected to have low PFS of no longer than 12 months following autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT).

Per Industry Dive, “compared with a similar high-risk group of multiple myeloma patients, the patients treated with the galinpepimut-S peptide antigen mix had a 2.5-fold higher median PFS.” Said Sellas CMO Nicholas Sarlis, “we are encouraged by continued indications that Sellas’ galinpepimut-S therapy notably delays disease progression in high-risk multiple myeloma patients."

Sellas CEO Angelos Stergiou explained that, “this new data further underscores the potential for galinpepimut-S to target an array of tumor types. The data both validate our focus on targeting malignancies with subclinical disease with galinpepimut-S monotherapy, and also support the expansion of our clinical trial program to include combination approaches in addressing a wide variety of cancers."

The phase II trial, which has been running since June 2014, has enrolled 20 patients, and plans to follow them long-term.